Indiana Wesleyan to Build Education Center in Shelbyville

Indiana Wesleyan University has accepted an invitation from the City of Shelbyville to build an education center in Shelbyville's new Advanced Technological Industrial Park. The development, known as Intelliplex, will be located on Interstate 74.

IWU has agreed to design and build a 20,000- to 25,000-square-foot building at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. When construction is completed, the Shelbyville Redevelopment Commission will buy the building and lease it to IWU.

IWU will sign a four-year lease to use the building but will have an option to purchase the facility at the end of the second year of the lease. The new building is expected to open in the spring of 2004.

Initially, IWU will use about 10,000 square feet of the building for offices and classrooms and will lease the rest of the building. IWU officials estimate an enrollment of 400 students at the facility within five years, but Shelbyville officials believe the regional campus could attract twice that many students.

IWU's new Shelbyville Education Center will be built on four acres of land that adjoins the site of the planned expansion of W.S. Major Hospital. The hospital also has agreed to buy the IWU building if the redevelopment commission does not buy it.

City officials and representatives of the Shelbyville business community asked IWU earlier this year if the university would consider building a regional campus in Intelliplex. The Executive Committee of IWU's Board of Trustees formally approved the project on Friday (Aug. 8).

Classes at the Shelbyville Education Center will be offered through IWU's College of Adult and Professional Studies, which was established in 1985 to help working professionals earn college degrees. About 6,300 adults currently are enrolled in classes, and more than 20,000 have earned degrees since the program was started.

The Shelbyville facility will be IWU's fifth regional campus in Indiana. Other campuses are in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Kokomo and Columbus. IWU also has campuses in Louisville, Ky., and near Cleveland, Ohio.